A Chance At Forever
by doctorrosetyler
Summary: Rose finds her place in his new new new life. After all, bowties are cool. 11/Rose set during Chances Come In Threes.


A Chance at Forever

By: doctorrosetyler

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

Summary: Rose finds her place in his new new new life. After all, bowties _are_ cool. 11/Rose set during Chances Come in Threes

She stood in her dark room with her suitcase beside her, the weight of uncertainty in her stomach.

It had been over a hundred years since she had last seen him. Her Doctor, the man she had loved with all of herself and then changed herself irrevocably to save. He was back. He had two hearts, and floppy hair, and a ridiculous bowtie and he was everything she had been wishing for since her human Doctor had died.

She wasn't betraying his memory by choosing to go with him, her Doctor had told her himself that she needed to find him and love him, no matter how long it took. She had promised and given him her forever again. He was the _same man_. So why did she feel so…uncertain?

The Doctor was back in the TARDIS, preparing his room for her. He had given her a new TARDIS key before she left, explaining that the old lock had broken and she needed a new one. The new key was cold and shiny in her hand, and she couldn't bring herself to take the old and beat-up key off of the chain around her neck. She loved this man, no matter what he looked like, but she desperately missed him at the same time.

Was it wrong that she wished he hadn't regenerated? She was going to have to go through the same adjustment that had almost broken them apart the first time. She didn't have to learn how to love the Doctor; that came easily in every form he could take. She just had to learn how to _find_ him again. This floppy man didn't lick things, he didn't wear trainers, and her old Doctor wouldn't have been caught dead in a bowtie.

This one's mutterings were even madder than she was used to, his eyes were slightly the wrong color, and he drank green tea. His face was young, and there was more pain in his gaze than she remembered. His shoes were just plain strange, and he never wore glasses. His sonic was green, a color that she had always known him to hate with a passion. He didn't eat bananas like a starving monkey, and he had an unusual love for jammy dodgers. Those she could adjust to easily, because she still loved the man behind the personality quirks. There was one difference, however, that scared her more than anything.

There was a ring on his finger.

She had been silly to imagine there hadn't been someone else, and now she was terrified of what her place in his life would be now. It had been hundreds of years for him, and he was a very attractive man. He had had two little flings in the short years she traveled with him, what had made her think that he wouldn't have had any in the hundreds of years she was absent?

She still believed in the words her Doctor had told her- if he didn't still love her, he wouldn't have spent so long trying to get to her through the void.

She wiped the tears from her face and stuck the new key in her pocket, continuing to pack. She wouldn't let this opportunity pass, no matter what her place in his life was. It would hurt so powerfully if he didn't still love her the way she loved him, but she couldn't spend any longer without him after waiting for so long to be with him again. She would be his companion again, if that was what he wanted.

Her tears began anew when she opened the drawer at her bedside. There lay her wedding ring, and her Doctor's ring. They were silver, slightly tarnished and scratched from years of wear, and they were full of memories. She picked his up and looked at it closely, remembering the day she had slipped it on his finger.

She promised him forever once, on that day she chose him forever. Now she had another chance at that forever, and she prayed she was wrong about the ring on his finger.

After all, that kiss in the kitchen had taken her breath away. He kissed her like he loved her.

She picked up her ring, too, and clutched them tightly in her hand. She willed her tears to subside before he came back. She didn't want him worrying.

"Rose?"

She turned around, surprised at his presence. She hadn't expected him to be in the room. Her human Doctor would have made all sorts of noise coming in the room. She tried to put the rings in her pocket quickly, but he caught her hand in his. At a gentle pressure from his hand, she opened hers to reveal the rings.

He regarded them carefully, and looked at her face. Her eyes were red and slightly wet at the corners. He could tell she had been crying, and wondered why.

"Am I…too different? I'm sorry, I just…I had to regenerate. I would have stayed as close to the same man as I could, but I needed to be a new man. I couldn't go on without you as I was. Is that why?" He wiped away the tear that fell down her face with his thumb. "I'm sorry, Rose. I'm still the same man…just different."

Rose shook her head. "No, no. We got through one regeneration. I can get used to another." She said softly.

"Then what is it? Why do these rings make you sad?" he asked gently. The way he looked at her was different. She could see the emotion in his eyes, but his tone was careful…examining.

She chose to just say it. Years of holding back had left her with nothing but regrets. She needed to know her place in his life now. "I'm sorry…it's just…you've already got another ring."

He frowned in confusion before looking down at his hand. She saw his eyebrows raise and a sad expression take over his face.

"Yes. I do." He said softly.

"Who is she?" she asked, terrified of the answer. Had she waited over a century for nothing?

"Her name was River." He answered, removing the thin band from his finger.

"She's gone, then?" she replied, feeling unbelievable sorrow for the Doctor. He had loved and lost again.

"Yes. She died. Quite a few years ago." He said, with sorrow in his gaze.

"I'm sorry." She said. There wasn't anything she could say. She was glad he had found someone to love, though she felt wretched that he had moved on from her so quickly, when she couldn't even stand to look at another man with anything other than a friendly feeling.

"Is that why you came to find me?" she asked.

He looked up at her, startled. "You think I came to find you because my wife died?"

It stung her greatly to hear him refer to someone other than her as his wife. "It wasn't an accusation. It was a question."

He took her face in his new new new hands. "I came to find you because I love you. I honestly had no idea that I would find you like this. I never stopped loving you, Rose. I loved River, yes, but she never replaced you. She helped me heal from losing you. I tried to move on, because I never thought I would see you again." He paused, and she saw tears in the corners of his eyes. "I came here today to find _us_. I wanted hope. I wanted to see that our love had survived; I wanted to find out what I had with you. I expected to find a grave, a house, a photo, or something. I never expected to find you again."

Her hearts sank with his explanation. He hadn't come for her, then? She felt like a fool, packing and assuming he wanted her back. He saw the sadness in her eyes and quickly corrected her.

"I'm so very glad I found you, Rose. I was a fool and a coward to pass on the life I could have had with you. I've gotten a third chance to be with you, and I'm not going to waste it. I'm still very much in love with you, and I want to be with you for the rest of my lives."

He put River's ring in his pocket, to place on his nightstand. He wouldn't deface her memory or his own love for her by discarding it. He waited for Rose to meet his eyes again.

"Rose, how long are you gonna stay with me?" he asked, a familiar twinkle in his eye at the old memory.

She smiled at him, tears in her eyes. "Forever."

He kissed her gently and took the rings from her hand. "Which one is yours?"

She pointed at the smaller one. He gently took her left hand and slid it back on. It still fit perfectly, after so many years. He handed her the other ring and offered her his left hand.

She smiled and looked up at him. "How long are you gonna stay with me?" she asked, joy in her voice.

He grinned. "Forever."

She slid the ring on his finger. It was a little loose, and he used the sonic to resize it.

He pulled her in for a long kiss, feeling happier than he had in years. When they broke apart, he laughed breathlessly. "I now pronounce us Time Lord and Bad Wolf."

He pulled her into his arms and his bowtie brushed her cheek. "The old you would _never_ wear something as dorky as a bowtie."

He snorted. "Bowties are cool!"

She laughed, and he laughed, and she knew she was making the right choice.

He helped her pack her things, and his ring shimmered in the dim light from the window.

**A/N: What did you think? I was looking at my Chances fics and thinking that they needed a bit more depth. So, this one was born! I love reviews (and my birthday is coming up… hint hint)!**

**With love,**

**doctorrosetyler **


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